Rivalry aside, the major moment at tonight’s match between the Red Bulls and D.C. United at Red Bull Arena occurred before kickoff, when team lineups were announced. Thierry Henry, the captain of the Red Bulls and the club’s top offensive threat, was listed as a substitute, despite being fully fit.

While Mike Petke said an argument with his captain Thursday at training had been resolved amicably after a two-hour meeting, the coach’s decision to sit Henry demonstrated that effects of the heated exchange lingered, an alarm-sounding occurrence for the co-leaders of the Eastern Conference. Kickoff provided a rare site: Henry, in an orange pinny, seated on the bench behind his coach.

Henry took the field an hour into the game, and despite a controversial red card called on Ibrahim Sekagya, the Red Bulls survived a heated match, 2-1, on goals from Lloyd Sam and Tim Cahill and a key save from Luis Robles.

Petke praised a “gritty, gutsy performance,” but downplayed the tiff with Henry and wouldn’t say if it caused the striker to sit. Henry declined to speak after the match because he did not start.

“It’s much ado about nothing,” Petke said. “I’m a coach and I make decisions every day, and I made my decision and that’s between me and the team.

“He’s a fiery personality, I’m a fiery personality. We get together sometimes it’s like a tornado meeting a volcano. As far as what exactly it was about, that’s a team-related thing.”

D.C. United stumbled into Harrison with the worst record in Major League Soccer, taking just 14 points from 25 games this season. Still, a spot in primetime was reserved for the rivalry with the Red Bulls.

While MLS has added franchises in Philadelphia and New York, which will debut in 2015, D.C. United remains the Red Bulls’ longest-standing rival, if no longer the closest -- dating to when the franchise played in Giants Stadium and was known as the MetroStars. In the supporters’ section at Red Bull Arena, a banner unfurled as the teams emerged onto the field stating, “We are the D.C. haters since ‘96.”

Through 26 weeks of the MLS season, D.C. United had not won away from home. The visitors, on paper, provided the Red Bulls an ideal opponent to collect their first victory in four weeks.

Perhaps for that reason, Petke felt relieved in leaving two of his three top scorers, Henry and Fabian Espindola, who have combined to score 14 goals this season, on the bench. But D.C. United proved pesky in a game that featured four yellow cards and a straight red.

At the head of his 4-4-2 formation, Petke placed Bradley Wright-Phillips, who had played merely 32 minutes in a Red Bulls uniform, and Cahill, the captain in Henry’s absence. Wright-Phillips said he gathered Friday he would start, but did not officially get word until he arrived at the stadium today.

The Red Bulls aimed the ball down each wing, particularly to Sam, in his fourth start, on the right side of midfield.

In the eighth minute, Wright-Phillips sprinted into the box. His centering pass found Cahill, who was felled by Dejan Jakovic -- a tackle that would cause Cahill later to leave the game. As the Red Bulls shouted for a penalty, Sam recovered the ball and directed a right-footed chip toward the far post from an acute angle.

Bill Hamid, in the D.C. United goal, flailed and the ball dipped over him, off the post then his hand and into the net for Sam’s third goal of the season.

D.C. United cracked the Red Bulls in the 36th minute, a goal due as much to defensive negligence as ingenuity. Nick DeLeon snuck behind David Carney, controlled Dwayne De Rosario’s weighted pass and pounded the ball into the net.

Two minutes later, the Red Bulls recovered the lead. Jonny Steele’s cross found Cahill’s forehead in the box, and the ball landed in the back of the net. Cahill leads the team with eight goals this season.

“We needed to give an answer for last week,” Robles said, referring to the 3-2 loss to Chivas USA last week that elicited an apology to fans from Petke.

In the 58th minute, Henry came on for Cahill, hobbled by an injured right ankle, and a minute later lashed a shot just wide of the net. Petke praised the “spark” Henry provided the Red Bulls attack moments after Luis Silva hit the crossbar for D.C. United.

Cahill limped on his ankle in the Red Bulls locker room and said the injury would prevent him from playing in Australia’s exhibition Sept. 7 against Brazil. He left the stadium in a walking boot.

A decision by Juan Guzman, the referee, nearly altered the game in minute 72. De Rosario slipped past Sekagya, whom Guzman felt tripped the former Red Bulls striker. For the second straight week, Sekagya ceded a penalty kick.

De Rosario, though, blasted the ensuing penalty kick at Robles, who said he was confident in the direction the shot was headed after watching video of the striker's penalty tendencies this week. The study paid off: Robles saved the lead and protected the win, too.